WE NEED TO SUPPORT "American Dreamz" by Seeing it in the Theater.

[NoodleyAppendage]

My wife and I are going today to see this biting satire of the Chimperator. Without similar support from other progressives Hollywood will continue its trend towards producing pro-Xtianity, pro-Repuke bullshit.

Making "American Dreamz" the number one movie this weekend will be a TANGIBLE sign that King Chimp is on the outs, and it will rebut the Repuke argument that Progressive movies do not make money in Hollywood.

Please go out and see this movie. Otherwise, you will have no ground to bitch and moan about the plethora of pro-Repuke/pro-Xtian films coming down the pike.

When my wife and I get back from the theater, I'll post a non-spoiler review here.

BTW - Roger Ebert liked the film and characterized it as "vicious, but funny, satire" against the Chimp Regime.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060420/REVIEWS/60419002

J

[stopbush]

1. The NYTs panned it, so it must be good.

Whenever the Times hates a film I put it on my must-see list.

[NoodleyAppendage]

4. Missing the point. Regardless of the reviews, need to support our message

I would see the movie even if it were rated 1/2 star. Hollywood needs to know that there's a demand for pro-Progressive movies. They received the message loud and clear that the freaks are willing to see The Passion or Narnia repeatedly. Money moves the message in Hollywood.

J

[BlooInBloo]

12. LOL! Let a guy see a movie just because he thinks it'll be good.

Sheesh.

[guidod]

30. I'll see the movie, but

what do you mean that Hollywood needs to know that there's a demand for pro-progressive movies?

[blondeatlast]

2. I like your thinking. I'll get us some seats, you get the popcorn! nt

[babylonsister]

3. I'm looking forward to it and your review! nt

[Saturday]

5. Didn't know about it....

We'll see it next week.

[smirkymonkey]

6. I saw it last night.

It was decent, mostly because it lampoons almost everything about this country - including the presidency - that deserves to be lampooned. I found it amusing, and even quite funny in some parts, but I wouldn't say it's a great film.

However, I think most people here would enjoy it - just don't expect a hard-hitting expose. As long as you look at it as light-hearted entertainment, I don't think you will be disappointed. My biggest gripe is that I thought they could have done so much more with the great cast, and that the material could have been a little more biting and witty. Some great ideas & characters were not as well developed as they could have been. It was pretty silly all in all, but fun.

I thought they went a little easy on the "Bushes" and our government in general, but they were pretty ruthless about satirizing the shallowness of American culture, and "Reality" shows in particular. Still it had a good cast: Dennis Quaid did a fine job as the President (although he made him a bit too sympathetic, imo) and Marcia Gay Harden as his wife. Willem Dafoe was the "Cheney" character, which I thought could have been played w/ more gusto (Anyone who has a crush on Willem will be disappointed at his "unsexiness" in this particular role :P ) . Hugh Grant was the smarmy show host, and in my opinion, played it wonderfully - he was the most repulsive, yet the funniest character in the film. Mandy Moore was pretty good as well, poking fun at her character by playing it a bit over the top. Chris Klien and Seth Myers seemed like they were kind of phoning it in. Sam Golzari played Omar, the Arab contestant and failed "terrorist", was very charming and I hope to see more of him in other films. His cousin, Iqbal (Tony Yalda) was hysterical as the teenager whose "dream" of being on "American Dreamz" was shattered.

Has anyone else seen it yet?

[NoodleyAppendage]

10. Just got back from the matinee with my wife...we LOVED IT. Solid A- to B

The movie could be best described as a black comedy because it is more comedic satire than in your face laff-a-lot. The script was sharp with wit and had many good things to impart through the characters. I particularly liked how the Bush character (Quaid) woke up with an ephany to read the news papers and low and behold begins to understand that the world is not black-and-white but "grayish." Also, I laughed out loud at the line where Bush complains about his daily briefings after educating himself and states, "North Korea and Iran are NOT like Dr. Octopus and Magneto." Also, it was funny when Bush loses his earpiece during the American Dreamz show and has to begin thinking for himself.

Make no mistakes folks this movie is lampooning Chimp, Cheney, and Pickles. There's no attempt to even change things up to make it less obvious.

In the film's epilogue, it is implied that Cheney is fired. One can only hope that reality mimics art in this case.

J

[Radio_Lady]

14. I missed the preview due to illness. Still sick so won't see it now.

[peaches2003]

7. Atlanta paper loved it

It got an A- in the AJC, which is very high for this reviewer. We are going to see it tonight.

[pitohui]

8. i don't see the point

if everyone going out and making f911 the record-breaking documentary of all time did not send a message and show where the mind of the american people is at, i don't see how seeing a mandy moore movie is going to send any message except i am a dupe

isn't she part of the problem, she has been supporting xtian rather than secular society for years i thought

i have all the ground to bitch and moan as i like, whether or not i see a silly movie and i'm leaning toward i need to keep my few remaining $$$ in my pocket

sorry to be a grump

[NoodleyAppendage]

9. Mandy Moore was in "Saved," which is scathingly anti-fundy Xtian.

Thanks for supporting our cause. I fully expect to see you bitch and moan when the next round of pro-Repuke/Xtian movies come around, but unfortunately you will have lost the high ground.

J

[Cha]

16. You thought wrong..Mandy

Moore is part of the solution. You need to investigate a bit Moore.

[ploppy]

11. I am going

to see it tonight. I can't wait!!

[NoodleyAppendage]

21. Hope you like. Please report back about it here. We need buzz.

I'm hoping that we can push the movie into the number one slot for the weekend. This will then encourage others to see it during the coming week and next weekend.

J

[Cha]

13. Thanks for this review by

Roger Ebert..I really enjoyed it!

Is this the part couric doesn't like about American Dreamz?...

"But I was surprised at the movie's daring, at its frank depiction of the Bush-like president as the clueless puppet of his staff."

Too frank a depiction of the decider?

Roger Ebert ZINGS it with this..

"And it alarms those who think some things are not laughing matters. To them I recommend Lord Byron: "And if I laugh at any mortal thing, 'tis that I may not weep."

I've been saying this in so many words as of late.

[Radio_Lady]

15. American Dreamz is getting MIXED or AVERAGE reviews at --

the website Metacritic. Average at this time is 44 out of 100.

http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/americandreamz?q=American%20Dreamz

[Cha]

17. Sometimes I like movies that

the reviewers don't and some movies are giant hits in spite of so so reviews..so let's hope this is one of those times :)

[NoodleyAppendage]

20. Why am I not surprised that the Wall Street Journal hated it.

This is one of those polarizing films, so don't expect anything but a mean rating from critics. Faux, Wall Street Journal, and other Repuke propaganda rags will hate it and liberal sources are likely to enjoy it.

Admittedly, it's not a perfect film, but when was the last time you saw a scathing satire of Bush in the theater. I'm telling you it's brutal in tearing down Chimp and protraying him as the stupid, monkey ass that he is.

J

[smirkymonkey]

23. It portrayed him as a moron, but a kindly, rather innocent moron

who was rather a victim of his handlers, particularly the Cheney charachter. I see the real Bush as a much more sinister, arrogant, calculating character. "Bush" in the end actually seemed like a decent guy in the film.

However it might have been too over the top if they had made him stupid AND evil, maybe this was a way to make his flaws a little more palatable to the average American.

[NoodleyAppendage]

26. I agree an evil and stupid Bush would have been too much.

I think they did as much as they could without completely pissing off the Freeper/Repuke lemming contingent. I'm hoping that many political "fence sitters" will go to see the film. The subtle dumb Bush protrayal and laughs generated at his expense just might be enough to sway their votes come November.

J

[NYCGirl]

24. It's the same at rottentomatoes.com. 45% (57 bad reviews out of 103).

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/american_dreamz/?beg=0&int=24&page=1

[smirkymonkey]

25. I thought Owen Gleiberman's review was pretty spot on....

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/review/movie/0,6115,1184973_1_0_,00.html

"There are many things a satire should be — fearless, scalding, revealing — and one it should probably not be: too easy. American Dreamz is a political/media/ showbiz parody so hungry to be topical that it looks, at first, like a case of deluded liberal Hollywood ''edge.'' Here's a movie in which the President of the United States, Joe Staton (Dennis Quaid), is a drawling, insulated cipher who can't tell a Sunni from a Shiite, and who takes his orders — his very thoughts — from his chief of staff, a bald schemer with a Cheneyesque crooked grimace (Willem Dafoe). In other words, he's a parody of George W. Bush that cuts no deeper than 100 sketches from the past five seasons of Saturday Night Live....(more)"

[incapsulated]

38. Owen's word is law, to me. It was a mildly positive review, though

He is like having a doppelganger out there to watch movies for me and tell me what is good. I watch what he likes and always agree.

The surprise of American Dreamz is that it's a blithe, funny, and engaging movie, not because the targets are any subtler than they sound, but because writer-director Paul Weitz (About a Boy, In Good Company) has made the shrewd move of staging the film on a human scale, in the homespun wackadoo spirit of a '40s screwball comedy. Rather than treating its characters as walking punchlines, American Dreamz gets us to like them, reveling, from the inside, in their plasma-screen narcissism.

The movie asks the audience to sympathize with President Staton as he reacts to his puppet status by tumbling into a depression (and, for the first time, picking up a newspaper). Is this letting Bush off the hook? Not really: It's more a way of winking at the humanity of his passivity. Meanwhile, Tweed, on the hunt for new contestants, hits pay dirt when he finds Sally Kendoo (Mandy Moore), an adrenalized crooner who, with her chunky sexiness and trumped-up ''white trash'' roots, is like Kelly Clarkson with a dash of Britney. She's the most amoral conniver in the movie, and Grant and Moore have a wicked barbed chemistry as the host and contestant who despise and need each other. As the president gets ready to go on the show, wearing an earpiece that will feed him every line, we see that no one on screen, from Staton to Tweed to the contestants (who are offered up in a luscious parody of American Idol's throaty, showboating ''individualism''), has presented themselves as they are. Yet the film's true target isn't these bogus celebrities and politicians. It's really us: the people — the audience — that make the new culture of American fakery possible.

[NoodleyAppendage]

19. Yes. The movie is BRUTAL in tearing away the mask on Shrub's stupidity.

Repukes will HATE this movie and American Idol fans will be too clueless to see that, they too, are being lampooned.

The movie is well worth a visit to the theater.

J

[RevolutionStartsNow]

18. I'm taking my son and his friend to see it tonight

It looks funny, and I like the cast -- the anti-Bush message is just a bonus!

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

22. I saw it yesterday and really enjoyed it. We DU'ers could have written

script!

So many of the things we routinely say here, regarding gwb, Mrs. gwb and Cheney/Rove, are portrayed in the movie.

For some, it may be a shockingly "in your face" satirization of gwb , however, for us here on DU, it's nothing new. Still funny and very enjoyable to see our speculations displayed in this movie.

MKJ

[peaches2003]

27. Laughing AT Bush

Just came back from seeing it. All I know is when the general American public starts laughing AT someone it is all over. And here in Republican Bush-Country Georgia the entire audience was laughing AT Bush. I think the movie had just the right tone to show Bush for the fool he is, but not to be offensive to the general previously pro- Bush audience in doing so. There wasn't anyone in the theater not laughing at the Dennis Quad/Bush character and to have that happen here shows that he has very little base left.

[NoodleyAppendage]

32. That's the point! If it were too aggressive it wouldn't be tolerated...

..or effective. When attacking King Chimp and trying to bend the opinions of the lemming public, one needs to have a subtle and gentle hand. To do otherwise, as some suggest on this thread, would only piss off the Repuke-lites and entrench their positions. It's a matter of Psychology 101.

That being said, I'm sad to report that the movie is #8 at the boxoffice for the weekend with a gross of only around 4 million. So, it's appearing to be a sad truth that progressives will bitch and moan about Hollywood going conservative, but they are not willing to support movies to the contrary. Sometimes we are our own worst enemies.

J

[DesertRat]

28. Saw it tonight

We thought it was just "okay". I was hoping it would have been better. The theater was less than half full.

[walldude]

29. I'm with you, nothing special here... and it actually portrayed Bush

as a sympathetic moron. I felt sorry for him in this movie.

After reading all the posts in this thread I'm suprised people are so "our movie" about this. I did laugh at the Doc Oc and Magneto joke but Bush was played as sympathetic. Sure they took a few shots at his IQ but that was about it. You wanna see a movie bash the crap out of Bush see Scary Movie 4. Leslie Neilson sitting in the classroom listening to the kids read The Missing Duck. 7 minutes. Need I say more :D

[RevolutionStartsNow]

31. Just saw it...

It was very funny. Great satire of GWB. Audience was cracking up.

[Pale Blue Dot]

33. $3.7 Million at the box office this weekend

That's actually really, really bad. I'm afraid we won't be able to save this one. Most of the reviews I saw were mediocre to bad.

[NoodleyAppendage]

35. Have you seen the film? Or, do you just rely upon corporate media?

Actually, the movie (while not perfect) is solidly enjoyable and only generates moderate reviews because it is so polarizing. Roger Ebert gave it a thumbs up and a decent review stating that it was "one of the most daring political satires since Wag the Dog."

I repeat, "did you actually see the movie?" If so, what made it "really, really bad?"

J

[Pale Blue Dot]

36. No, I meant the "box office" was really, really bad.

I am a movie buff and form my own opinions about movies. I have enjoyed all of Weitz's previous films (American Pie, About a Boy, In Good Company). Having said that, I usually end up, in general, agreeing with the critics. I will see this and form my own opinion, but at this point, there is nothing that will save this film from being a rather colossal failure at the box office.

[NoodleyAppendage]

37. Part of the problem was NO PRE-MOVIE buzz on the web.

Having seen his other works, I can say that it fits above American Pie but below About a Boy and In Good Company in terms of movie flow and script cohesiveness. Unlike the other films, it stands above them all in terms of sheer biting social satire and is quite daring.

I think when you see it, you will find that the negative critics are being too harsh (maybe even purposefully) and that it's a solid B rating movie.

J

[smirkymonkey]

39. True - I ended up seeing it only because Silent Hill was sold out.

I hadn't really heard anything about it until I started looking.

I think that if the reason people didn't like the movie was because they thought it was too politically "left", then it's not really a criticism of the movie per se, but a criticism of the subject matter, to which most people here would not object.

[NoodleyAppendage]

40. What did you think? Did you like it?

J

[NoodleyAppendage]

34. Ranked #8 for the weekend with 4 million gross. WE SUCK...

For the past three years I have heard nothing but bitching and moaning about the conservative push in Hollywood and the furvor to capture the fundy Xtian audience with movies like the Passion and Narnia. Well, now we have a scathing satire of King Chimp in the theaters that aptly portrays him for the idiot that he is, but does it in a way that doesn't totally turn off the political fence-sitters or Repuke-lites. And, what do we do? We ignore the movie and fail to support it by seeing it in the theater.

Our failure to support this movie sends a message to Hollywood..."Progressive movies lose money, Conservative/Xtian movies make shitloads of money." Knowing this, which way do you think studio executives are likely to turn when greenlighting the next Hollywood project.

Jesus, people. It's only a meager $6.50 or 8.25 to show some tangible support for our side. WTF...

J